Some notes and observations from the practice field on Tuesday evening:
Defense stays Smokey gray: The defense wore the orange jerseys and the Smokey gray helmets on Tuesday after winning the practice/scrimmage over the weekend. They’ve had those honors for at least the last three practices after the offense held it for awhile earlier in spring.
Green team: Walk-on cornerback MaLeik Gatewood and cornerback Justin Martin were in green, non-contact uniforms as the Vols make final preparations from Saturday’s Orange and White Game. Butch Jones said Martin is recovering from the flu and has lost a significant amount of weight in recent weeks.
Wide receiver notes: Preston Williams has been one of the stars of the spring, but he didn’t have the best of days on Tuesday, at least in the open portion of practice during the individual drills. He had a hard time keeping his footing and had a couple drops in one particular drill – leading to receivers coach Zach Azzanni making him do the drill over several times.
It was a light day for that position group in general as a handful of guys weren’t present including Josh Smith, Jauan Jennings and Vincent Perry. Butch Jones confirmed that Perry and Jennings are out for the rest of spring, while Smith was only out for the day. Williams, Jeff George and Cody Blanc were the only three scholarship receivers on the field.
Who stood out:
• TE Jason Croom: I watched the tight ends for a couple periods and thought Ethan Wolf and Jakob Johnson both looked good, but Jason Croom, as he has most of the spring, really looked smooth as he ran routes and made some nice catches down the field. It’s tough to know how the physical aspect of the game will work out for him until we see him in a game, but he definitely has the potential to stretch the field from the tight end position.
• OG Charles Mosley: He’s had an up-and-down spring so far, but I thought he was moving well on Tuesday, and he drew praise from coach Don Mahoney several times
• QB Quinten Dormady: I thought he had some nice passes throughout the course of the afternoon. He really is more of a natural throwing the deep ball – he does a good job getting air under his ball and giving the receivers a chance to go and get it.
• CB D.J. Henderson: I haven’t seen a ton from him this spring, but he had a nice kickoff return on Tuesday and showed that he can move pretty well.
